Do you know what your children are listening to? Social vices are obviously evident and are promoted in the movies our children watch, the music they hear, and the games they play. Sometimes parents are the ones exposing them to it albeit unintentionally.
Most popular songs contain inappropriate content. It’s either they promote songs or blatantly sexualize females. Other times, musicians are actually talking about sex. Music also contains a lot of commercial content, mostly in the form of product placement, much of which is for alcohol.
When songs start trending, do you jump on every trend or allow your children to? Songs that you have no clue what they’re about…
Music hasn’t changed but music lyrics have become much more explicit.
Are you aware that the popular Shaku Shaku is not kid-friendly? Lyrics like –
“Henessy ti bale”
“There’s henessy here”
Or the dance step in the song that is explained as
“Oya, bi p’o fe yin’bon eh
Shaku Shaku ni”
“Like you’re about to shoot a gun, that’s shaku shaku”
are certainly not what children should be exposed to. The worrisome part is that they constantly dance to it. In other words, this songs keep playing in their heads and they start repeating it.
Imagine your child saying “I’m on a codeine diet, slay mama e keep quiet”
Or, can you remember Olamide’s science student?
What about the one corner that even came with a sexual dance (dry humping any corner). And, it was all the rave.
Now some people have argued that they’re just children and this lyrics mean nothing to them. However, if you don’t stop them now, they’ll assume it’s acceptable when they’re older. They won’t see anything wrong with it.
Music can be used for good or evil. There’s always an agenda behind every song. Do you want to praise God? Do you want to worship? Are you singing about love? Are you promoting something?
However, this days, it’s more like the drive for profit makes musicians deviate from the norm and sing anything that will sell.
To an extent, they don’t care about the influence of their song on your child. They just sing to make their money and trend. They’re doing their thing. So, you have to do yours. You have to be intentional about parenting.
What should you do when your child brings home music you find offensive?
To censor or not to censor?
This largely depends on your values as a family unit. It also depends on your child’s temperament and maturity. Firstly, you need to explain why the song is offensive. You can’t just say “stop singing that song” or “don’t listen to it”. What then happens when your child hears it outside. Of course, the way you explain depends on how old your child is.
As children get older, encourage discussion and debate on these issues to provide them with opportunities to reflect on content they consume from the media as a whole.
Also, when kids have healthy self-image and varied interests, music will probably have little or no influence on their values and lifestyle choices. Encourage your children to have hobbies and to be involved in healthy extra curricular activities.
